Friedrich Merz, leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and an election favourite, has waited a long time to get to this point - one step away from the German chancellorship.
Merz, 69, has consistently led in the polls since incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote last December, leading to early elections this Sunday, 23 February.
Previously a long-time rival of the more centrist former Chancellor Angela Merkel, the relatively right-leaning Merz became chairman of the CDU party in January 2022 and became its designated candidate for chancellor last September.
He wants to steer the party in a more conservative direction and has made curbing illegal migration a central theme of its policies. Merz studied law and originally worked as a lawyer. He joined the CDU while still a student, but has always focused on politics and was elected to the European Parliament in 1989. After becoming a German MP in 1994, he switched to domestic politics.
In the following years Merz rose through the ranks of the party, but was eventually sidelined within the party after a power struggle with Angela Merkel. He decided to leave politics and worked for a number of years in senior positions in the private sector, for example at BlackRock Germany and HSBC Trinkhaus & Burkhardt, and also served on the boards of EY Germany and the Borussia Dortmund football team.
His return to parliament after more than a decade was marked by his efforts to move the CDU towards what was characterised as a more socially conservative and pro-business stance.
On immigration, Merz caused a wave of discontent in January when he pushed through a non-binding proposal that advocated stricter immigration rules such as border controls and increased deportations, despite criticism that it could violate both German and EU asylum law.
Perhaps even more relevant to his potential willingness to enter politically risky territory, Merz has been widely denounced for backing down from his position of not cooperating with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and breaching the so-called "firewall" against the far-right party in order to push through the measure. He later ruled out any future cooperation with the far right.
With the German economy currently in a difficult situation, Merz often criticised the economic policies put forward by the Scholz government and blamed them for the country's economic decline. He advocates cutting social benefits and reducing the number of civil servants. Controversially, he also supports tax cuts that would reduce state revenues, while being open to cutting state subsidies.
On foreign policy, Friedrich Merz was assertive during the Munich Security Conference last week, saying that Germany should play a greater leadership role in the EU, while pledging support for Ukraine and backing its entry into NATO.
Merz is married and has three children. He is an aviation enthusiast and reportedly owns two planes, which he flies in his spare time.
euronews/ gnews.cz - RoZ
PHOTO - Facebook
English 
Czech 
Spanish 
French 
Italian 
Russian 
Chinese 
German